Here and There

Things will be very busy for me this week, both at work and after. I'm currently categorizing some information based on a random sample of court cases. The sample is almost 4,000 cases and I need to enter the information into Excel to do some number crunching. I expect to have carpal tunnel syndrome before I finish.

For after work, I have my usual classes on Wednesday and Friday. But over and above that, a group of us will meet with the head of the Hawai'i Department of Human Services to talk about, among other things, welfare reform and one-stop welfare offices. The next day, we meet with the head of the Hawai'i Department of Human Resource Development to talk about civil service reform.

From these meetings we hope to be able to find a topic of interest to study for our capstone. As I may have mentioned before, the capstone is the equivalent of a thesis paper but is instead researched and written by a group. The intent of using a group is to put into action all that we've learned about leadership, group interaction, and goal setting.

Personally, I work just fine by myself. But if I am ever to be an effective manager, I will need to be able to work well in groups/committees. So this will be valuable experience, if somewhat frustrating at times (especially at the slow pace groups tend to have).

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!

"All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the Court is now sitting. God Save the United States and this Honorable Court!"

And so it begins, the U.S. Supreme Court starts it new session today. Set for hearing on Wednesday is the Stanford University law professor Larry Lessig challenge of the copyright law extension (see the story here).

At issue is a 1998 law that extended copyright protection an additional 20 years for cultural works, thereby protecting movies, plays, books and music for a total of 70 years after the author's death or for 95 years from publication for works created by or for corporations.

Aloha!

The SPAM-A-Phone

As if getting a half-a-megabyte of SPAM a day is not bad enough (which is about what I get at my backup hotmail account), think what that would be in terms of unwanted phone calls. Everyday. 24 hours a day. 365 days a year. Well, it's not that far off as voice over IP begins to spread.

The only thing keeping telephone-based SPAM to a minimum is the long distance charges. Which is one of the benefits of living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. But as that cost goes to near zero via VOIP, expect the number of such calls to explode. In fact, I already got one last week Friday and heck if it wasn't just like a SPAM. Including the lie about my asking for this call and how I specifically opted in and to call another number to opt-out. The only thing is, it's not true. None of it.

But that is not stopping them from making call after call. At this point, I am seriously looking at getting a PBX type system for our house so that we can pre-screen calls. What I would like is a system that requires the caller to type in a four-digit code before the phone will even ring. That way, I can give the code to people I want to let through. All the other calls would be divided into two voice mail systems. The first is for SPAM, which would simply tell them I don't want any. And the other to legitimate people who I may want to call back.

If anyone has experience with such systems, let me know. Quickly.

Perpetual Panjandrum

If someone walked up to you on the street and tried to sell to you a "Motionless Electromagnetic Generator" would you buy one? Well, the US Patent Office, in its finite wisdom, granted a patent for this device in March. What does it do? It says it generates energy by "collecting and dissipating energy from its environment; in this case from the magnetic flux stored within the permanent magnet." In other words, a perpetual-motion machine.

Read about the continuing saga of charlatans, freaks, and other assorted idiots here from the Scientific American.

Among all the other things I'm doing this week, I'm also the United Way coordinator for our division at work. This means I send out the information and then keep an accounting of the funds coming back. While this is a worthy charity, it sure does take a lot of time to do this.

Aloha!

CATs Eye

I took the day off today because I have another CT scan this morning. I think this is a follow-up to the growth on my liver which they are checking to see if it has grown in size or not. At least, that's what I think this appointment is for.

Whichever the case, I will be off-line for most of the day but plan to be back at work tomorrow.

Aloha!

Swiss Roll

With five of the nine first round Louis Vuitton Challengers Cup yacht races completed, the Swiss Alinghi team has a perfect record of 5 and 0. Also at five wins is the Seattle Yacht Club's OneWorld Challenge, although they have been penalized one win for a rules infraction.

And herein lies an interesting tale. Yacht racing crews owe no allegiance save for the person they are currently working for. It is not steady work and the person you are crewing with today could be your adversary tomorrow. In this kind of environment, it is not surprising that knowledge gained from one team could end up in another. Which is fine, unless of course that knowledge includes the design specifications of your competitor's boat. And based on this insider knowledge, you are able to design your own boat.

They have rules against that. And just such a rule infraction occurred almost a year ago in the OneWorld camp. It seems the problem came to light only after a disgruntled former employee (Have you ever seen a gruntled employee? But I digress.) blew the whistle on the team. OneWorld, to its credit, began an internal investigation, confirmed the allegation, and submitted their results to the America's Cup Arbitration Panel, which governs such disputes.

A little over two months before the start of the Challenger series, the panel penalized OneWorld by subtracting one point (one point is received for every win) from the total it would receive in the first and second rounds of the series. Thus, OneWorld became the first team ever to start the series with a negative points total.

As noted earlier, this is an especially busy week for me so I gotta go - Aloha!

Weekend Wrap Up

The United Way (see the site here) charity campaign wraps up today. I have all of the pledges received accounted for and ready to turn in.

Upon reflection, even though this has been a very trying experience for me in time and effort, I am full of wonder and admiration when I see low paid secretaries and clerks donate hundreds of dollars per person to the charity to help those less fortunate then they. Even more so when you realize that they also donate directly to their own charities, churches, or synagogues. These people are the very foundation of our communities. They don't ask for help from anyone, but are willing to give huge amounts of money to help others. And they do this while getting little or no recognition at all.

So, this post is for all the people who do more than their fair share to help their communities to be a better place. Thank you.

Our school group met with Hawai'i Department of Human Services Dr. Susan Chandler yesterday afternoon. We discussed some of the reform efforts going on there and I think we have a better understanding of the problems people face when dealing with change. The thing that was most prominent in her experience was how long it takes to make large changes to originations and how much effort is required.

Next week we are trying to meet with the Department of Human Resource Development to gather information about civil service reform (yes, this is the same department that I am visiting today, but with a different class). While this is a very important reform effort, it will probably be a very slow and painful process to implement. In fact, it may take longer than any one administration has. If this is true, then the challenge will be to change the culture of the organization such that it supports the change and will carry on the work even as administrations change.

Of course, all bets are off if a large external event occurs that forces rapid change. And sometimes, that is a Good Thing. But usually, it isn't because of the lack of time to come to consensus results in dictatorial decisions that are resisted, or at least blunted by the bureaucracy.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!